Shramik Mela to be organised in 36 different places in state

In a bid to help all workers from both the organised and unorganised sectors derive the benefits given by the state government, the state Labour department has taken a unique initiative of making people aware of the benefits by organising state-wide Shramik Mela.

Besides providing different benefits to workers of organised sectors, the state Labour department is targeting to provide Samajik Mukti Card to all the 1.5 crore workers in the unorganised sector.

Moloy Ghatak, the state Labour minister, said: “After the change of the guard in the state, the state Labour department has given Samajik 

Mukti Card to around 90 lakh workers. While from 2000 to 2011, the erstwhile Left Front government had brought only 23 lakh workers from unorganised sector under the scheme to provide them different benefits.”

The Shramik Mela will get organised at 36 different places including Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Raiganj, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Malda, Berhampore, Kalyani, 

Bolpur, Burdwan, Katwa, Asansol, Purulia, Bankura, Khatra, Tamluk, Haldia, Baruipur, Barrackpore, Diamond Harbour, Chinsurah, Arambagh and Kolkata. In each of the places, the mela will continue for two days in January. In Kolkata, the Shramik Mela will be organised on January 27 and 28 at Jatin Das Park.

In Shramik Mela, there will be discussions on different issues related to labour laws and other aspects of the lives of workers. There will be stalls in the Shramik Mela from where visitors will get aware of the labour laws. 

There will also be awareness camp on minimum wages of labourers. At the same time, they could also learn what their family members should do in case they face any accident while working in their respective places of work.

There will also be programmes like financial assistance distribution among workers from 61 different unorganised sectors. There will also be awareness camp in the Shramik Mela about the employment bank.